It appears that many of the regulars (and me) are feeling very low about the future. We got the franchise and on the back of this great things were promised, a stadium, team building and a solid future. This is obviously not happening and the fans are rightly concerned. Like many other I paid good money to go to France and Scotland and was very disappointed with the performances as well as other games so far this season. Frankly I was embarrassed coming out of Cas, when we usually hold our heads up and sing. The odd freak result like Saints is so annoying when you loose at Celtic. We are not a big club but the fans have always looked forward to each week with the same enthusiasm, after all look at the following we had when we were not in Super League, always up for it. I feel very uneasy about the future of the club. Like you lot I live and breathe Salford, but this is not reciprocated by some players or indeed the club. Speaking from experience of dealing with the club I have found the set up and staff very unprofessional and frankly if some of them had proper jobs would be sacked. Hence the state we are in now. I hate say it but we need major changes and new leadership. A new stadium is the only way forward, without it we are finished.
‘No Stadium, No Future’

New leadership may be able to pursue a ground share in the heart of the city in a more modest stadium. I don’t know how viable this is but it makes more economic sense.
After more years than I care to mention I may not renew my season ticket next year because so many things are in the balance. I am just not feeling motivated.
Just a quick mention about the fans that come to drink and treat the match as a side issue. I have seen and been intimidated by our own fans and the behavior of this small group should be addressed by the club or families will stay away. We need stewards and extra police in the shed to show we mean business. There is a difference between showing you are unhappy and antisocial behavior. Don’t forget the club makes money from selling alcohol. I know it is not just us but we don’t want it or need it. It only gives the RFL excuses.

excellent post,especially the bit about the club being unproffesional!i think the same as you this great club of ours has the opportunity with these 3years to make astatement,come on reds,grab the chance while we have it!behind the scenes at the club are people who really are not doing enough to move us on.so once again,come on reds!

I agree with a lot what you say (metsmagic) about the state of the club and from my own dealings with the club conclude that we are not doing the things we need to do, that is until we get to the stadium. The problem is that we have been waiting for a new dawn at this stadium for how many seasons, 10?

As to the season ticket, i have gone for 25yrs and am considering not getting a new one, my father who has watched the club since the early 50s is exactly the same, my brother has stated he will not renew, neither will his daughter and that is the same for my mother.

I realise that Sycophfans will tell me they dont need supporters like my family or we are not proper fans. To them i say wake up because it takes more guts for a fan to say "no" im not going than to blindly go and ignore all that is wrong and find excuses.

However i am sure metsmagic that you will get a lot of repsonses saying how the directors are gr8 and nice people and its not their fault the team is poor and they deserve success and all the other well trodden excuses.

All i will say is the current regime has been at the club since 1981/82 in that time 12 coaches, no major trophies, plenty of relegations, Trish leaving suddenly when she was doing a good job, a coach on a four year contract that they couldnt pay up if they sack him, no investment, but on the positive the chairman has got an OBE, nearly got his hotel in the park at a gr8 price and every1 says he is a nice bloke (which he is) but to be honest im more concern about Salford.

Sorry if I repeat myself but me and The Butcher were discussing this "low ebb" just this morning.

Now maybe it's just because I haven't seen the Reds yet this season (I live 600 miles away and health has been a bit of an issue) but I think we may be trying to run before we can walk. I'm not saying I'm right, it's just a possibilty.

This inaugral season with the franchise was ALWAYS going to be very different, and so it has proved, not just for our club but (reading the message boards) fo all the teams whether they be established team or new entrants such as ourselves.

Just cast your mind back to the old days and I bet with the same set-up as we've got now and battling away to avoid the drop most of the (real) fans would be getting right behind the lads : to a man!

It's the way it's always been with the Reds. I'll tell you what mate: I wouldn't want to play at Warrington with their (not all) fans behind them one week and calling for changes including players and coaching staff changes the next.

We're not "fair weather " fans either. The times I've driven home and said in the heat of the moment ..."never again". Where was I a week later? where real fans go .....The Willows.

I really think that as hard as it seems at the moment we should be trying to support the lads through what must have been a really unsetling period for them.

I won't forget seeing Lee Briers raising his hands and clapping The Reds fans as he left the field after we had pipped them by a point after a big half time lead. The Wire players in contrast were being booed off the field " by their own supporters.

Let's not get to that stage yet.

I know where a lot of the lads are coming from at present: but< I think we should try to get things into a proper perspective.

All the best to you all.

BD

Good post & I think many fans going week in, home & away feel the same, you already might be a member of forever reds if not you need to join. I think now more than ever we need to galvanise our core fans to get involved & send a clear message to the board that we need to start seeing some progress.
I think the board need to know some of the frustration being shown by supporters & the fact that it is boiling over is due in part to the lack of progress with the new stadium & I think this is now fuelling the ill feelings & lack of tolerance our great supporters have always shown.
Do we really think Myler & Turner would be contenplating moving from Salford if the stadium was in progress, I think not.

What cocerns me is the club does not seem intrested in anything anymore and this is pushing the fans away its about time they came out and told the fans the truth or yety again as i expect that we are all going to be let down. and at the end of my season ticket i aint wasteing any more money as club dont seem bothered about fans or the club. And this depresses me and i have no lost intrest in the club.

HEAR HEAR the club just dont seem intrested in there fans these days.But as per usual we will all be there week in week out

Excellent quote, fully agree.

I think that sooner rather than later some of the concerns of the fans will have to be addressed.

As Shirley says: "Forever Reds meetings may be the way forward in communication both ways.

At least TheClub can't be accused of not answering questions.

I don't think that I can ever remember such down in the mouth comments and general dissatisfaction on our board for years.

As I said in an earlier post that some of us maybe were expecting too much too soon.

It has been a really strange season so far with results hardly ever being predictable and I suspect there are a lot of unhappy fans at some of the so called "top clubs".

I just think we need to "galvanise" (a good word from one of our lads previously) behind the team coaching staff and officials at The Club.

If we do "our bit" by continuing to be the loyal fans that we always have been in the past and supporting The Club at this difficult transition period, then at least if things go wrong we can all put our hands on our hearts and say"we id our bit".

ATB
BD.

I think some people need to get things in a little more perspective. Ok so we're not pushing for any honours this year but think about were we ever going to? We're in our first season back in SL, we have a very inexperienced squad at this level when you consider how many SL games this squad has played between them, not many. Much of the squad are very young and will (If we can get to keep them) get much, much better as the talent is clear for all to see and at times this season they have excelled. Even our overseas contingent were going to take time to settle, granted one more than the rest

, but they've done Ok.

The season started poorly to put it mildly

but we've improved, yes it may not always appear that way but look at how the score lines changed;

First 7 Losses
Wakefield we lost by 19
Cas we lost by 36
Quins we lost by 30
Saints we lost by 26
Wigan we lost by 26
Hull KR we lost by 36
Catalans we lost by 32

-205

Last 7 losses
Cas by 6
Celtic by 13
Huddersfield by 24
Hull FC by 2
Wigan by 16
Quins by 8
Hull FC by 4

-73

That's a fair improvement as the year has gone on.

At the start of the year those [i"in the know"[/i said we'd be lucky to win a couple of matches, we've managed 6 but not only that within those 6 wins have been Leeds (2nd in table) & Huddersfield (3rd in table) Away, Saints (Top of the table), Bradford & Warrington not a bad list of name. Add to that the fact we made the quarters of the cup winning at the KC on the way, I think we've progressed quite well.

Now I grant you there have been many dire performances and I, like everyone else, has had the pants bored off me with some of the tactics we've played this year. And once of twice, for the first time in my life, I've questioned why I bother and again, I, like everyone else, isn’t too happy with our coach and his ideas, but overall I'm not sure what else we expected this season.

I know the stadium is a huge bugbear but that's out of our control.

Castleford were considered a success last year and the won only 7 matches (and a draw) to finish on 15 points, (Hull FC only won 8!) they brought a number of could young lads in and blooded them to their credit and so have we. We currently have 12 points and 6 wins with 7 games to go.

So I suppose overall it depends on your expectations for this season, mine were low and quite frankly I though 5 wins would be the best we could hope for so I can't really complain (but I do

)

I'm not wearing my rose tinted ones, I'm simply a realist and if I'm honest I've seen us much, much worse than this a few times in my life.

Finally to sum things up, we think we've got problems, Bradford spend around ½ million more than us and they are only one point ahead of us with a worse defensive record (I bet you didn't expect to be reading that at the start of the season

), Hull FC are having a shocker with the calibre of players they have. Leigh are third bottom of NL1, Swinton we're beaten at the weekend by Blackpool....at home,, so cheer up a bit you miserable gits!

Another excellent quote, some of my faith is beginning to return.

Butchers Dad & KOTS - thank god for some sense on here! (and for stringing more than two sentences together that actually make sense).

This season we have exceeded most pundits expectations (Gary Scofield included) - but we are a long long way from being world beaters and yes some of our games have been poor and the tactics employed debatable.

The stadium is IMHO the biggest disappointment of all - but down to a series of events entirely outside the control of the board, Salford Council or Peel Holdings - just in case anyone missed it there has been a global banking and finance crisis and funding for ANY capital projects is rather hard to come by.

The question everyone should be asking (and I'm sure the board are) is how does Salford RLFC keep going as a business, as a sporting club and as an asset to the community - I'm afraid I don't have any answers other than to go on offering my support, buying my season ticket, turning up and being a member of Forever Reds. It would be quite entertaining if those casting the brickbats at the club, the board, the coaching staff and the other fans could perhaps enlighten us as to exactly how, with the finances available they would miraculously change things to lead us into our brave new world?

AT LAST !!!!!!!!! SOME FANS BEING REALISTIC whoopido

I was thinking about this today, the begining of the season we were awful, reaily bad, turnin over loads of ball, shockin defence falling apart getting run around, failing to entertain and failing to deal with super league.

Now we are competing week in week out in super league, we arnt winning every week but this team is learning to play in the pressure cooker matches, its still not fun entertainment but we are staying in the contest as long as we can every game. if we continue to develop we will turn the corner and be more successful in our win lose ratio which is important, staying with and passing bradford would be a great success.
.

We wanted a franchise, we got one. We wanted a competitive team, (not league winning, not embarrassing) we got one. We wanted young British lads in our team; you see where I'm going with this?? Add to this the free home shirt/away shirt/whatever was in stock at the time and I personally don't feel cheated by the club at all.
I support Salford and attend matches because I choose to, simple as that, and I'm not arrogant enough to think that the club owe me anything or need to be 'interested in their fans'. As long as there is a team running out to represent Salford I will be going because I enjoy rugby league and love Salford, not because of some misguided (presumably American) notion that supporting a club is a two way street and I'm owed something from the club.
Although the doom MONGers keep complaining that the club is keeping them in the dark about the stadium (bless), I'm fairly confident that behind the scenes that JW and the rest are working their hardest to get it done. I really don't get all the negativity on here recently, have the school holidays started yet??

Well done all above. The raised expectations after Hull, Huddersfield and Leeds have naturally led to deflation - but this is normal. It always feels like this when what you expect is not what you get. (Ask most married couples!)

Compare us to Oldham or Rochdale.
Both could be sleeping giants but are likely to be dead. Swinton is dependant on one or two people. We are in a far better shape.

If it means NL - then I hope to be still stood watching Salford. Yes I'm not confident about our future but compared to what I did expect this season - apart from the ground, I'm fine.

Like a few people I’ve come away and said after some poor performances this season that I’ve had enough and I’m not going again. This said come the day of the match I just can’t help but change my mind. Take the Saints game a couple of weeks ago, I honestly thought we would get hammered to the point of humiliation and I know a few supporters who didn’t go for this reason and really regretted it afterwards.

Personally on the playing front I think the season has gone a little better than expected and the underlying problem for supporters is the stadium. I can imagine that many supporters feel that the delays are hindering our progress to become a bigger and more successful club. The growing frustration supporters are feeling is causing persistent negativity and criticism throughout all areas within the club.
It’s human nature that when we get promised something we expect it. The continual delays are causing some supporters to question the sincerity of the club and have become sceptical about whether a new ground will ever materialise.

On a positive there was hugely significant development last week that’s taken 5-6 years, The Port Salford planning approval that I personally believe is integral to Peel financing and building the new stadium.

the latest warning from the RFL just shows that they have missed it, must be occupied with other attactions in Chapeltown.



I am confident now that Port Salford is on the way so is the ground.

Keep the Faith and BELIEVE

Excellent post RedRy it echo's my own and many other supporters views on the club and the season so far.

Am I at a low ebb? Well we could be occupying a better league position than we are but can anyone honestly say that they expected anything other than a hard time this year?

The club owes me nothing it has given me a lot over many years.

The fans, whatever they think, owe the directors a lot as they have put more than enough into the club over the last 20+ years.

With regards what news is coming out of the club regarding the stadium,it is always difficult to keep everyone happy at a time like this and if we are feeling a bit down, how must the people who must have put millions into the project feel?

I and my family will be renewing our season tickets for next season and I am telling the club now I don't want any free shirt or any freebies to entice me and the family to come to matches, we come as you do because we love the club.

I agree about this season, I've been fairly happy on the whole beating Leeds away, saints at home, Huddersfield, Warrington and Bradford along with Hull in the CC. Its just really frustrating that we can't seem to build any momentum, but suppose that's the Salford way, build you up and then knock you down always has and always will be, but as I've said no complaints about this season on the playing side of things.

I think the thing most fans are getting frustrated about is what's going on behind the scenes with regards to the stadium etc. My family as many of you know have been season tickets holders, well forever, but they will not be getting one next season for the first time ever. The club seems to be going backward fans are staying away our attendances out p*ss poor and for me we're going backwards. Lets just enjoy what time we have left in super league eh? Because lets face it we've only got another 2 full seasons left



You can feel the negativity on match day, the shed is dead, fans are getting on players backs we're only just breaking the 3,000 barrier for home games it really really is poor, I used to love coming it used to be the highlight of my week, but no I just go out of habit I've even stopped turning up to forever reds meetings and the like and that's absolutely nothing to with shirl and the team because the work they do is great, but I've just not got the VIBE anymore. It doesn't feel right.

Sorry for my ramblings and I really hope something positive comes up sooner rather than later because people are losing interest and no one at the club seems to care. Depressed yet

i've just slit my wrist.

god the moaning on here is as bad as the weather.

Its true though.

Sorry Beezer, but we can only stay upbeat for so long, I'm nearly 21 and I've had enough all I've known is to be perfectly honest I don't know how you older folk cope

. Don't get me wrong ive had some great times that I wouldn't swap for the world and the high of Salford winning a game is the biggest high ever nothing comes close, but enough is enough now something must change!!

eh ! who are you calling old

stick with it your still young.salford will be better and the stadium will be built . Keep the faith.....

Do we have a Couch for Ave It to lye on so he can find out whats going on in his head?



Ive said it before Players change, Coaches change, people change, we change, adapting is the key, Salford itsnt the the team or the club i fell in love with imo is a shaddow of its former self for what it ment to me but in reality Salford City Reds has moved on, its more proffesional on and off the field, the players are technically better and we've got more more exposure with the trafford centre than we ever had before.

Dont look back and wish it was like the old days because life always moves forward and as soon as the club starts looking backwards at glory like swinton then we'll be in trouble.

Keep the faith and keep the chin up fella